Episodes

John Hood is back on the Forgotten America podcast to discuss his latest installment in the Folklore Cycle! Waterfolk takes on the formative period of American history between the 1830s and the 1850s. He shares with...

Andy Fowler, Communications Specialist for the Yankee Institute, joins us for an episode to discuss Connecticut! Although he wasn’t born there, his family has roots in the state that go back to the turn of the 20t...

Clayton Rasche is a first-generation Louisianan who adores his home state. He joins Garrett on this episode of the Forgotten America podcast to share about the incredibly rich culture of Louisiana. The Pelican State...

Chris Ingstad is the President of Iowans for Tax Relief Foundation and an 8th generation Iowan. He joins the Forgotten America podcast to discuss life in Iowa. Chris explains why he hasn’t seriously considered lea...

For this Halloween Special, Lyndsey Quinlan, Digital Marketing Associate for the Cardinal Institute, and Jessica Dobrinsky, Staff Writer for the Cardinal Institute, join Garrett Ballengee to discuss horror films set...

Emma Ayers, a native of East Tennessee and Religion & Culture Writer with the Washington Times, joins us today for the second half of our discussion of Hurricane Helene disaster recovery. She shares her perspect...

(We had some unusual technical difficulties when recording this episode. So please forgive any choppiness that may result – we did what we could to edit it as smoothly as possible.) Brooke Medina, Vice President o...

Shawn Peterson, President of Catholic Education Partners and long-time resident of Minnesota, joins this episode of the Forgotten America podcast to weigh in on the selection of Tim Walz as the Democratic VP nominee...

Dr. Barker is the President of Southern Wesleyan University in South Carolina and joins us today to talk about current challenges in higher education and the importance of an education that teaches values and not ju...

J.D. Vance’s selection as President Trump’s Vice-Presidential running mate has kicked up a renewed firestorm around Vance’s Appalachian bona fides and his book Hillbilly Elegy. Is he legitimately Appalachian?...

Daniel Corcoran joins Forgotten America to discuss men’s issues and why he feels our modern culture is leaving men behind. Statistics across a variety of sectors show that men are struggling with mental health, cr...

Two Hoosiers join the Forgotten America podcast to discuss the differences between two very different regions of Indiana. Sarah Milligan, Assistant Director of Community Engagement for the Institute for Quality Educ...

Jacob McCoy (Jake) is from Man, West Virginia in Logan County and a Contributor to the Cardinal’s Nest Blog. He currently resides in Columbus, Ohio with his wife, son, and daughter. Jacob recently took a month-lon...

Originally from Ripley, Ohio and currently residing in Lexington, Kentucky, Caleb Franz is the Program Manager for Young Voices and the author of The Conductor: The Story of Rev. John Rankin, Abolitionism’s Essent...

What do the French Horn, Led Zepplin, and C.S. Lewis have in common? They are all part of the Great Conversation. Dr. Junius Johnson joins the Forgotten America podcast to discuss classical education and the literar...

In this special solo episode, Garrett takes some time to reflect on recent conversations with guests of the Forgotten America podcast and his Spring vacation to Scottland & Ireland. The last few months of guests...

Tiffany Hoben is the Director of Education Partnerships & Strategy for the Cardinal Institute for West Virginia Policy. She joins the Forgotten America Podcast to share her motivations for moving from the Sunshi...

Homer Hickam is a true West Virginia hero. Raised in Coalwood, a mining town in southern West Virginia, he went on to fight in the Vietnam War, work for NASA, and become a best-selling author. His book, Rocket Boys,...

This episode of Forgotten America opens with a brief walk down memory lane. Garrett shares how he first met Dr. Thompson at his Moral Foundations of Capitalism seminar at Clemson University. Dr. Thompson’s lecture...

  Sarah Montalbano is the Policy Manager for the Alaska Policy Forum and a senior fellow with the Independent Women’s Forum. She was born and raised in Wasilla, AK, and her family has roots in the state from the...

Jerry Apps is Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the author of more than 35 books. He is a storyteller and historian, joining the Forgotten America podcast to share about his life growing...

  Nick Deiuliis is a chemical engineer, attorney, and business executive. During a career spanning 30 years, he served as the CEO or Chairman of the Board of five public energy companies. During that time, Nick ha...

Elyse Marcellino is the Director of Embark in Mississippi. Embark is a new schools accelerator that works with school founders to help them move from idea to doors open. They guide school founders through early pla...

  Fred Fransen is the President of Huntington Junior College and Co-Founder of Certell, Inc. He also previously served as Executive Director at the Center for Excellence in Higher Education and as Senior Fellow fo...

Join us for a Thanksgiving-themed episode before we pause for the holidays! On Thanksgiving Eve, Garrett recorded another solo episode. He shared ten things he is grateful for this Thanksgiving. He observes how the ...

Monica Moses is a policy fellow for the Cardinal Institute for West Virginia Policy and a PhD candidate at West Virginia University. She joins Garrett today to discuss the role colleges and universities play in rur...

Ashley Stinnett is the Communications Coordinator for Coalfield Development, he’s a co-founder of the Film Futures Foundation, a former republican candidate for the West Virginia House of Delegates, an actor, and...

Kim Dully has a Master’s degree in School Counseling, she is a Grassroots Coordinator with Love Your School-WV, and a co-host of the We Have Hope podcast. She has years of experience working with families and kid...

Aaron Renn is a writer and consultant based in Indianapolis and is a co-founder and Senior Fellow at American Reformer. He had a first career in management and technology consulting advising major corporations as ...

  Jessi Troyan, Director of Policy & Research for the Cardinal Institute, takes over the Forgotten America podcast as guest host. She interviews Chris Denson, Director of Policy & Research at the Georgia P...

Anthony Hennen covers Pennsylvania as a reporter for the Center Square and is the Managing Editor of Expatalachians. He also was recently named a Robert Novak Journalism Fellow with the Fund for American Studies. H...

  Marina Herrera is a 17th generation New Mexican on the Spanish side of her family with roots as far back as time immemorial on the indigenous side of her family. She joins Garrett today to talk about her life gr...

When you hear the words “New York,” what do you think of? Maybe you think of Times Square or Wall Street. Perhaps you think of the Empire State Building. Does your mind immediately go to pizza? Mine does. The...

This may have been one of my favorite episodes to record in quite awhile, and I hope you all enjoy it too. In this week’s episode, Garrett interviews West Virginia author, S.D. Smith, author of the beloved Green ...

  Mark Moses has provided finance-related management and consulting services to local government agencies since 2011 after spending two decades working directly for municipal agencies in senior-level finance and a...

Danny Murphy, the Director of Right on Crime for Virginia and West Virginia, joins Garrett Ballengee and Jessica Dobrinsky Harris, Cardinal’s Policy Analyst, for a discussion of what it means to reform the crimin...

Kerry McDonald, a national expert on education entrepreneurship and alternative forms of education, joins Garrett to discuss nontraditional schooling and the growing trend of microschooling in America.    Garr...

Today’s episode takes a bit of a detour outside of our typical topics about communities and challenges in rural America.    Scott Beyer joins us again on the Forgotten America Podcast - this time to discuss th...

Dr. Matt Ladner is an education policy researcher and is the Executive Editor of ReimaginED, a blog focused on education choice. Matt is also the Director of the Arizona Center for Student Opportunity at the Arizon...

In this special Bonus episode of the Forgotten America podcast, Amanda Kieffer, Communications Director for the Cardinal Institute for West Virginia hosts an episode focused on maternity care access in rural America...

Stephanie Wissman is the Executive Director of API Pennsylvania, a division of the American Petroleum Institute. API’s mission is to promote safety and to influence public policy in support of a strong, viable U.S...

As the founder of Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys, a public charter school, Jack Johnson Pannell aims to disrupt the status quo in education and design by building an effective model of teaching and learnin...

Charlotte and Kenny Webb have dedicated their work to finding innovative solutions to help formerly incarcerated and recovering individuals gain access to resources and employment opportunities. Through their ...

What do Sojourner Truth, Davy Crockett, Ichabod Crane, and a Cherokee river dragon have in common? They are all characters in John Hood’s second historical-fantasy novel, Forest Folk.    John Hood is president...

Welcome back to the Forgotten America Podcast! We are returning from a strategic pause in releasing new episodes in order to build up a robust catalog of episodes and add new content formats to the show. We have a l...

Note: As you probably noticed, this episode is being released a week later than our usual schedule. Extensive traveling has made it difficult to schedule a guest interview while Garrett is on the road. So we brough...

Garrett is joined by Brian Fencl, Professor of Art, and Director of the Nutting Gallery at West Liberty University. This week, Garrett and Brian dive into some of the reasons visual arts are so important for fly-ove...

Garrett is joined by Don Soifer, President of Nevada Action for School Options, a nonpartisan “action tank” he founded in 2017 to support the growth of diverse choices of rich, high-quality, and personalized edu...

Garrett is joined by Paul Gessing, President of the Rio Grande Foundation, an organization dedicated to increasing liberty and prosperity for New Mexico citizens by promoting individual freedom, limited government, ...

Garrett is joined by Justin (Gus) Hurwitz, Professor at Nebraska College of Law and the Director of Law & Economic Programs at the International Center for Law & Economics. Gus's work builds on his back...

Garrett is joined today by Garris Stroud, Founder and Chief Editor of Rural Ed Voices, an organization seeking to elevate the conversation on education opportunities in rural areas and small cities.  In this ...

This week's episode is hosted by Cardinal Institute's Development Director, Jessi Troyan. Jessi is joined by Keliʻi Akina, President and CEO of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii. The Grassroot Institute i...

Greg Clutter is the director of Foster Care Initiatives at Chestnut Mountain Ranch, a Christ-centered home and school. They reach the hearts of young men and restore broken families through a structured loving commu...

Garrett is joined today by Shawn Peterson from Catholic Education Partners and Jill Annable with the National Catholic Education Association to discuss the Roman Catholic Church’s stance on education and the role ...

Ben Stiegelmeier shares stories from his life growing up farming and ranching in Selby, South Dakota where he, alongside his family, carried on his father’s legacy in production agriculture. He describes his Germa...

Kendall Cotton, President of the Frontier Institute in Montana, joins us today to discuss health care and certificate of need laws. Today’s episode is a little more wonky, and dives into the impacts of these CON l...

A strategic consultant, political maven, & social entrepreneur based in the Washington, DC area, Rina Shah has been nationally-recognized as an astute businesswoman with a strong streak of political activism. Pr...

Today Garrett is joined on the Forgotten America podcast by Naomi Schaefer Riley, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute focusing on issues regarding child welfare as well as a senior fellow at the I...

Today Nolan Gray joins Garrett to discuss how principles of market urbanism and regional planning can be applied to rural America and small towns. Nolan is originally from Lexington, KY and is studying to receive hi...

Gordon Tomb is a senior fellow with the Commonwealth Foundation in Harrisburg, PA, a free-market think tank focused on Pennsylvania state policy and a senior advisor with the CO2 Coalition founded with the purpose o...

James Franko, President of the Kansas Policy Institute, joins Garrett to explore the Sunflower State. Garrett & James discuss everything from the appropriate degree of doneness for a steak to Kansas tax reform. ...

Peter J. Hill is Professor of Economics Emeritus at Wheaton College and a Senior Fellow at the Property and Environment Research Center in Bozeman, Montana, where he currently resides. He joins Garrett on Forgotten ...

Our newest team member, Andrew Bambrick, joins Garrett to discuss his home state of New Jersey and what it was like growing up in the small town of Hammonton in southern New Jersey. He tackles stereotypes that come ...

The opioid crisis is back in the news with the death of actor Michael K. Williams. West Virginia is even suing Purdue Pharma over its role in the opioid crisis. However, today’s guest, Jacob Rich, a drug, tobacco,...

Jessi Troyan and Jessica Dobrinsky from team Cardinal take over the Forgotten America podcast this week. They chat about why they chose to stay in West Virginia, how Jessica transformed from an avid Bernie supporter...

Many people think that all of West Virginia is coal country, but that simply isn’t true. Garrett joins his wife, Kimberly, on this episode of Forgotten America to discuss life in the southern coalfields, how her u...

John Charles Jr is the President & CEO of the Cascade Policy Institute in Portland, Oregon. In this episode, we learn about his journey from Marxist environmental activist to leader in the free-market environmen...

Robert Graboyes, a healthcare economist for the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, joins Garrett today to discuss the health care system in America. He talks about its purpose, why it’s broken, how being ...

This week, Jason Huffman, state director of Americans for Prosperity - West Virginia, joins us for a second time on Forgotten America. He and Garrett discuss new legislation bringing transformational change to the M...

Dr. Abigail Hall Blanco is an Associate Professor in Economics at Bellarmine University. She received her PhD in Economics from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. She is a co-author of the books Manufactu...

JD Tuccille is a self-proclaimed anarchist living in the desert of Arizona. He is an author for Reason magazine and a novelist. He believes in personal responsibility and loves the freedom of the American Southwest....

In honor of the release of John Hood’s book, Mountain Folk, on June 8th, we are re-releasing our Patrons only Halloween Bonus episode that we recorded with him back in October for all of our listeners to enjoy. Do...

Join Garrett as he interviews Luke Huffman and Brandon Dennison from Coalfield Development about the work they’re doing in their southern, West Virginia community to eliminate generational poverty. Located in Wayn...

Montana is affectionately known by those that live there as the “Last Best Place On Earth.” Today Garrett is joined by Kendall Cotton, the President & CEO of the Frontier Institute. Kendall developed his pas...

Tim Barto is the Vice President of External Relations at Alaska Policy Forum. Tim is a retired Defense Department Special Agent, having worked in the field of personnel security. He also spent time as a Marine infan...

Vance Ginn, Ph.D., is chief economist at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. He earned his doctorate in economics at Texas Tech University and has an accomplished career as a policy director and university lecturer ...

Jack LaPant, a farmer, lost over a million dollars in an 8-year legal battle because the Army arbitrarily enforced an environmental law it had no authority to enforce. His huge loss is bad enough but why in the worl...

Is your only cultural reference to the Sooner state the old Rogers and Hammerstein musical, Oklahoma!? Or maybe you’re a sports fan and you’re familiar with the Oklahoma City Thunder basketball team. Today, Tren...

Kevin Williamson discusses his new book, Big White Ghetto: Dead Broke, Stone-Cold Stupid, and High on Rage in the Dank Woolly Wilds of the "Real America.” He shares with Garrett what he’s learned as a rovin...

Taylor Dawson and Mark Cunningham are empowering Tennesseans to reclaim control of their lives as a communications team at the Beacon Center for Tennessee based in Nashville. They join Garrett today to discuss cultu...

Alex Brill is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he studies the impact of tax policy on the US economy as well as the fiscal, economic, and political consequences of tax, budget, hea...

Emma Ayers, Managing Opinion Editor at Young Voices and native of northeast Tennessee, joins Garrett on today’s episode to talk about the importance of tradition and religion in Appalachian culture. Together, they...

Casey Pifer is the Director of Institute Relations for the Atlas Network, a nonprofit organization connecting a global network of more than 475 free-market organizations in over 90 countries to the ideas and resourc...

Bradley Foster is the newest member of our team at the Cardinal Institute - joining us as our Community Engagement Associate. Similar to many mountaineers, his family has ties to mining, but instead of coal, Bradley...

Joshua & Jared Crenshaw are brothers from Massachusetts who moved to Louisville, Kentucky to found the Pegasus Institute, a free market, state policy think tank. In this episode, Garrett speaks with them about t...

Anthony Hennen is a native of southeastern Ohio and the Managing Editor at the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal. In 2018, he joined with several other friends and Ohio university alumni to found the indep...

Adam Kissel has made a career of helping others and advocating for liberty. He supported civic literacy with the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, fundamental rights at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Educa...

Have you ever been curious about the intersection between free-market policy and urban issues? Do you wonder if rural America and urban America have anything in common? Today, we dive deep into the Jagged Heart of A...

This week Garrett interviews Andrew Campanella, President of National School Choice Week about his new book The School Choice Roadmap: 7 Steps to Finding the Right School for Your Child. In this episode, Andrew tell...

In today’s episode, Garrett interviews Jason Huffman, the State Director of Americans for Prosperity - West Virginia and a native West Virginian. Jason shares with us stories about his family’s proud heritage as...

In this first episode, you’ll meet the Cardinal Institute team, learn what we mean by the phrase Forgotten America, and get a peek into what you can expect from the Forgotten America podcast.  You can subscribe w...